Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:Our new shed. All this summer I've been working on constructing a shed. On Father's Day, my loving family got me a shed for the storing of our stuff which we were tripping over in the garage.

What you don't see is the work it took to clear the land, pour the concrete pilings, and so forth. You also don't see the massive cost overruns. What started out as a $749 shed kit ballooned into an over $3,000 project. I was making trips to Home Depot and Lowes almost daily.

Did I mention that after completing the outside of the shed, Anchorage then went into the official Worst Summer Ever, recording the most consecutive rain days ever? Over 30! I'm blessed to say the shed didn't dissolve into a pile of mushy wood pulp. Oh, but the blessed sun did finally appear, and I got out the airless sprayer. The interior of the shed has about 4 gallons of Killz latex, and the exterior has over gallon or so of Sherwin Williams latex. I should note, the interior paint is courtesy of our municipality's hazmat recycling program. I got the interior paint for free! Makes up for the exterior paint which was $98 for two gallons. Well, it's time for me to go to work so I can't drag this story on. Give the photos a look.

(later on this evening) I'll go into detail a bit. Our backyard is basically unimproved land on a hill behind our home. I had to put the shed where I did because it was the only bit of terrain that wouldn't need significant work to use. I cleared the land out, after getting a utility locate done, sank in six concrete footings. On that went a subfloor, and on that went the shed.

The boardwalk leading up to the shed is constructed with pressure-treated wood, and is secured using 4x4 concrete post bases. There are metal spikes driven through the wood at strategic points, adding stability to the boardwalk and preventing it from shifting over time.

When I took the pictures seen here, we finally had a few days of sun, so all the plants were nice and green. Considering we had a full month of rain, they were well watered, thus they look good. Of course, during that rainy period, working in the backyard was like working in a slimy bog because, well, it was working in a slimy bog. Once the sun came out, though, ahh, how glorious! I tell you, Anchorage in the summertime is so beautiful.

As far as applying the paint goes, I used my airless sprayer, a Ryobi something-or-other from Home Depot. It was at time cantankerous, miserable, and yet, how else can one apply gallons of paint in a few minutes? You just can't paint rafters any easier, a brush or roller would have been a pain. As for the outside, the whole shed's exterior took about an hour, and that includes having to prop up ladders and everything. It took more time to clean out the sprayer than it did to use it. The airless sprayer is cleaned out, boxed up, and residing in the very shed it painted.

In my hand I hold an old remote control for our Hunter fan/light combo. We bought the fan back in 1999 from Eagle Hardware, which I think was bought out by Lowes a long time ago. Our remote has faded to that ugly-looking yellowed "old plastic" color, and the button for turning on the light barely works anymore. I did some searching online, but came to find out quickly that getting a replacement remote is basically a lost cause.

Until today.

Here's the scoop: The remote I have has a sticker on the back which says "MODEL UC7848". You would think googling on that would give you a source for ordering it, but oh nooo. Now mind you, being the guy who installed the fan and the remote control, God was merciful enough to leave in my shabby memory a good picture of what the receiver unit on that Hunter remote looked like. At Home Depot, I spied a Hampton Bay unit where the receiver looked identical. Here is a link to the same unit, "Hand Held Ceiling Fan Wireless Remote" at amazon.com. Anyhow, the unit is a Hampton Bay #191-691.

Yes, what you see here, or what you find in Home Depot, will be a receiver-remote combo, not just the remote alone. Hey, don't complain. Anyhow, I got this home, and amen, the remote worked fine once I set the DIP switch inside to match that in our original Hunter remote. Why does it work even though it's two different brands? My theory is that neither Hunter nor Hampton Bay makes the gear, they're just repackaging stuff from some nameless Chinese manufacturer. And so it would seem. All I know is that I don't have to take my fan down to replace the remote control receiver in there. That alone makes me very happy.

So, while I can't guarantee this will work for you, it worked for me. I bought Hampton Bay Handheld Wireless Remote #191-691, and the remote within that kit works as a replacement for Hunter remote model UC 7848.

What you see here is something we probably should have done years ago. Our old wood fireplace has today been replaced with a gas fireplace insert. This guy is an Avalon DVS GreenSmart Gas Insert, from North Country Stoves. The installers got this baby stuffed into the old fireplace in a day. Not bad, considering they had to run gas piping all around the house. Anyhow, the fireplace has a remote control, just like a TV. Only one channel, though. You can adjust the flame just like a volume control. Has a fan, and a thermostat, so you can set a temp, and let the fireplace keep the room temp at what you pick. The unit will run with no electricity, either, which for me was the deal maker. I couldn't see the point in getting something that wouldn't keep us warm if the power went out.

My loving wife has desired a gas fireplace for years, and we finally did decide to take the plunge. I really like wood fireplaces, but well, she doesn't. Admittedly, the ash and hassle of storing the wood is something I tend to forget about when thinking wood fireplace. Also, I must admit, even though we had a wood fireplace for what, 15 years, I never once cooked anything in it. So there goes that perceived benefit. Gas it is. I must say, it does look nice, and being able to point the remote at it and fire it up is nice, too. It should be sweet once Christmastime rolls around and it's getting below zero outside. Should have done this years ago, but at least by waiting we got the most energy-efficient unit available at this price range. We'll see if a warm fireplace hearth proves to be a kitty magnet.

The paint on our window trim is Sherwin William 2058 Barcelona Beige, oil-based. The new windows were put in by Greatland Construction. VPI Quality Windows - Synergy - Vinyl Frame - Double Glazed Argon - LoweE(0.025) - ZF - VPI-A-24. Energy Performance Rating U-Factor 0.28. Solar Heat Gain Coefficient 0.19. Visible Transmittance 0.43.

This is a story of No Hot Water. Over the last few days we had very little hot water. Our hot water system in the home has been a constant thorn in our sides, as it's entirely inadequate, and just, well, lame. We have a stainless steel tank which is heated by the same boiler which supplies our driveway melt system.

Shown here is a Taco 007-F5 circulator pump, priced at $78 or so at Amazon.com. In town, we have a plumbing place that has TV ads stating they'll be sure to sell you the right part. I go there, tell them I need a Taco 007-F5, even have it written down. The counter guy says they don't make those anymore, and I need the Taco 00R instead. Fine. I fork out $124 and change, and home I go. Install it, still no hot water. Argh. I was suspecting it was the zone valve anyway. The pump I took out was covered in crusty glycol crud anyhow, and it's been in there for 7 years, so I have no regrets changing it out.

Well, fine. I go to Home Depot and get a replacement zone valve, just like the one shown here from Amazon.com. I wasn't going back to the plumbing place. Forget that. Oh, and what do I see also at Home Depot? The Taco 007-F5 pump for $89 that plumbing guy says they don't manufacture anymore. Argh. The zone valve set me back $104 but hey, the house is back to having hot water, and I have more pump than I needed, but you know what? A hot shower sure beats a cold one!

View more photos It's been a while now since I completed our big remodel project. As promised though, here are a few photos to go through. Since I was home sick today, I had time to take a few snaps and post them. If I can ever dig up some old photos showing how the home looked with the old doors and carpet, I'll post those too. If I never do find those, think 70's dark walnut and worn-out cream colored carpet. It's much nicer now.

Kitchen Remodel Photos
After a couple months work on weekends and the occasional day off of work, the cabinets are done and the new countertops are in. Rather than pay for entirely new cabinets, I did a cabinet refacing myself. This consists of removing the old doors, applying a real oak veneer on the fronts of all the cabinets, and installing new oak doors. I believe the results were worth it. Are they as nice as brand new oak cabinets? No, of course not. But then, new cabinets for our kitchen would have easily been a $15k+ job. Going with the refacing, it was about $2200 or so. Might not have even been that much. Well worth it, and not a bad compromise between beauty and economy.

Deanna did a fine job of oiling the insides of the cabinets. I don't have a photo of the insides, but with the new outsides, the insides looked pretty blah. While consisting of solid plywood from years gone by, they needed some TLC. After she oiled 'em up, they looked real good.

The original countertops we had were somewhat problematic, the backsplash was separate from the horizontal surface, and water from the sink seeped into the joint, badly warping the wood. Those counters came out and we opted for a one-piece laminate in Deanna's favorite color. We're very happy with the countertops. I will be adding in a tile backsplash, but wanted to get some photos up now. So, browse the photos and enjoy.

Here is what we started with. Our old downstairs bathroom, pretty much torn out. The yellow walls, the warped laminate floor.

And after a month or so of working in the evenings and weekends, here is the result.

I don't have a "Before" photo of this shower, but imagine your classic 70's Disco Gold color. Now it's been refinished to a classic white finish.

Over the washer and dryer I built a set of storage cabinets, they came out pretty nice. Working with that melamine stuff, though, ugh. My hands ended up getting cut up with a load of scratches, the melamine edges are very sharp. But, the results were well worth it, the finish is durable, and the cabinets fit the space perfectly, something not available with off-the-shelf cabinets.

The door in this shot, I'll tell you now, hanging that door was easily the single most miserable part of the whole job. You'd think that an easy task, but oh no. No. I really couldn't get a good shot of the entire bathroom due to it's small size, but this is a pretty good shot.

And here is a closeup of that sink, with a glass tile backsplash.